What You Actually Get When You Win Free Food for Life

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Some people say that there's no such thing as a free lunch. However, there are plenty of retailers promising you the chance to score free meals, ranging from pizza to ice cream, for life! Are these contest prizes too good to be true, though? Let's find out what you actually get when you win "free food for life."

1. McDonald's Free Soft Serve for Life

In honor of National Ice Cream Day, McDonald's offered a free vanilla cone and a chance to win free soft serve for life for customers who downloaded and used the Mickey D's app to redeem their vanilla cone on July 16 between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. While the promise of a cool treat for every day of your life was quite nice, the actual prize was even better: a $312 McDonald's Arch Card and a check for $4,680. Hey, nothing is as refreshing as cold, hard cash! (See also: Never Miss Free Ice Cream Again: Complete Calendar of Annual Free Stuff Days)

2. PizzaRev's Free Pizza for Life

Pizza tastes so good that some wish they could eat it every day. Banking on that idea, the chain PizzaRev ran a #BeRevolutionary contest to win pizza for life. So, what does that mean? According to the contest's official rules, California resident Haley won a maximum of one pizza per week in 2017. That's 52 pizzas a year for the rest of her life!

3. Undz's Free Pizza for Life

The definition of "for life" can vary a lot across retailers. Take for example, underwear online retailer Undz, which offered the chance to score free pizza for life. The catch? It specified one large pizza each week for 20 years. If you do the math that translates to a total 1,040 large pizzas.

4. Circle K's Free Soda for Life

During hot days, a tall cold glass of the fizzy stuff can quench your thirst and hit the spot. Convenience store chain Circle K offered U.S. residents one grand prize of free Polar Pop for Life and 35 first prizes of the same soda for one year. The grand prize was actually a $10,950 Circle K gift card, and the 35 first prizes were awarded as $365 Circle K gift cards. With such a gift card, winning "free soda" also meant you could get anything from coffee to hot dogs to snacks at this convenience store.

5. Starbucks' Free Coffee for Life

Caffeine lovers, rejoice! The promise of the bitter, black elixir for free for life is just too titillating and was brought to life by the biggest coffee chain in the world. For the grand prize winner, Starbucks For Life meant a daily credit for 30 years for one free food or beverage item redeemable at participating stores in the U.S. The daily credit would be delivered through a registered Starbucks smartphone app or registered gift card. Alcoholic beverage menu items were off limits to the grand prize winner.

6. Vehicle City Tacos' Free Tacos for Life

So far, we've reviewed free-food-for-life offers that were subject to luck. Here's one that required you to actually go on a dare. Flint, Michigan-based Vehicle City Tacos grants one free taco every day for life to customers who tattoo a taco saying "VCT" or "Vehicle City Taco" on their bodies. The tattoo must also be at least 3-by-3 inches and be located somewhere that can be shown in public.

7. Burger King's Free Whoppers for Life

In the U.S., the King is very selective about who he selects to hand out the coveted BK Crown Card — which grants you free Burger King menu items, such as the whopper, for life. There are 12 famous BK Crown Card holders, including Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Hudson (former Burger King employee), and George Lucas.

But instead of limiting itself to well-known celebrities, Burger King chose a different route in Argentina (where it's been for over 60 years) and gave average Janes and Joes with a unique feature a chance to get free food for life. All Argentina residents with last name "Parrilla" (which translates to "grill" in English) would be eligible to get free whoppers for life after registering at a local store and providing their government-issued ID number.

With about 12,000 Parrillas living in Argentina, that was a bold move for Burger King! In the end, an estimated 300 Parrillas took Burger King up on the offer. "Free Whopper for Life" meant one free Whopper per month at any Burger King store in Argentina for the entire life of the registered Parrilla.

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